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CHAPTER XIV


LIBBIE IS ROMANTIC


The girls, marshaled by Bobby, made a tour of the windows, and though Betty was fascinated by the views of the city spread out before her and bought post cards to send to the Pineville friends and those she knew in Glenside and Laurel Grove, her mind was running continuously on young Mrs. Hale's announcement.

"She couldn't be the old bookstore man's wife," she speculated, her eyes fixed on the Potomac while Bobby cheerfully tangled up history and geography in a valiant effort to instruct her guests. "Lockwood Hale was an old man, Bob said. He didn't say he had a son, but I wonder— Oh, Bobby, the Jesuit fathers didn't sail down the Potomac, did they?"

"Well, it was some river," retorted Bobby. "Anyway, Miss, you didn't seem to be listening to a word I said. What were you thinking about in such a brown study?"

Betty made a little face, but she had no intention of revealing her thoughts. She wanted to find out about the bookshop quietly, and if possi-

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